The African Development Bank Group has elected Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, Nigeria's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, as its 8th President.

The election process was concluded by voting among the Bank’s Board of Governors (54 regional member countries, 26 non-regional), whose voting powers are weighted.

Adesina succeeds Donald Kaberuka, whose second term as President of the Bank ends on August 31, 2015.

Adesina said: “I salute the excellent work of President Kaberuka. It will be a big challenge for me to step into his shoes. He leaves a solid Bank behind him.”

Adesina, 55, will assume office on September, 1 2015.

The President-Elect said he was “humbled by this remarkable vote of confidence in me” on the part of the Bank’s Board of Governors, who met during the Bank Group’s 50th Annual Meetings in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.